


Not a Drug Thing

by Warmhandscoldheart



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Anti-Incest, Ben's death, Canonical Character Death, Drug Use, Gen, Ghosts, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Rip Ben, Sibling Bonding, Substance Abuse, but it's a bit too late :(, drug overdose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-26 12:38:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18282533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warmhandscoldheart/pseuds/Warmhandscoldheart
Summary: Klaus finds out that Ben is dead like any normal teen would: by waking up to find his pale brother at the foot of his bed. Too bad the others didn't believe him.





	1. Chapter 1

When Ben showed up at the foot of Klaus’s twin sized bed, pale and shaking, it took Klaus a few moments to realize the what was going on since sleep still clouding most of his mind. When the haze finally cleared and his brain caught up with his surroundings, he began screaming his head off at the sight. Within an instant, the rest of the Umbrella Academy came thundering into the room.

Luther laughed at Klaus for crying like a little baby. He scoffed in his face and announced that there was absolutely no way Ben was dead, and left without as much as a sympathetic glance his way. The others soon followed suit, their leader claiming that he must just be high again. That only made Klaus cry harder. He screamed at them, crying that their own brother was standing there in his room and how the fuck did they not understand? He screamed until his voice was hoarse and he couldn’t scream anymore, and then the beat on the floor with his fists.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Reginald stormed into Number Four’s bedroom. Three failed attempts of Pogo and Grace left him no choice but to intervene. So there he stood, dressed in his suit like always, yelling at Number Four. 

“B—Number Six. I saw him. He’s dead, dad! And the others don’t believe me!”

“Very interesting. Are you sure?”

Klaus wasn’t sure how to react. For one, Reginald actually believed him. But on the other hand, it didn’t exactly seem like he cared. He was more interested in the fact that Klaus’s powers were working than the fact that his own adopted son was just a corpse, lying somewhere all cold and alone. “Yeah, dad, I’m pretty sure.” He sniffed.

“Well, how long has he been dead? How long have you seen him?” Reginald whipped out his leather notebook and a pen. 

Klaus threw his head back and laughed. It was a laugh that toed the line that led into hysterical. He wasn’t sure when, but at one point those laughs turned into sobs. There he sat, tears soaking his cheeks and dripping onto his lap. Reginald scoffed and scribbled something into the red notebook.

By then, a crowd had gathered in the room. Klaus couldn’t take it. His voice scratched like sandpaper against his concrete throat. He cut himself off when Vanya let out a soft sob. “Is he really dead?” She asked, hoping this was some prank and that Ben would jump out of Klaus’s closet at any moment.

“Yeah,” Klaus’s voice broke.

“No. How are we not sure that this is just some drug thing?” Luther piped in, a touch of anger and annoyance laced in his gruff voice.

“No, this isn’t some drug thing!” Klaus scoffed; hadn’t taken any hallucinogens that day. Then again, telling them that certainly wouldn’t change Luther’s mind. “Ben is standing right there, you prick!” Ben cleared his throat, reminding Klaus to take a deep breath and not freak out. “We need to go find him,” he concluded.

“You shall do no such thing. Go back to bed and we can find him tomorrow, after you’ve completed your studies.” Reginald announced before whisking everybody off to bed and leaving Klaus alone in his room. Shuffled footsteps faded away into the background, his siblings not putting up a fight.

Cold, poisonous air sucked in and out of Klaus’s lungs in frustration as he glared holes into the closed door. He wanted to make them know, convince them in some way, but how would they ever believe him? It’s not like anybody ever took him seriously. 

Over the course of what felt like a few hours, Klaus let his mind shift from one bitter thought to the next. He knew Reginald didn’t care about them, but leaving Ben’s dead body who knows where? That was a new low, even for him. And Klaus wouldn’t stand for it. He sighed and began to pace back and forth across the chilly hardwood floors. “I have to do something. I can’t just leave you there, Ben! Wherever you are.” He took another breath, then whipped around to Ben. “I have to rescue you myself.”

Ben winced. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea, Klaus. Maybe just wait, like dad said. Besides, how would you? It’s not like you can carry a fucking—” he trailed off and shuddered, “—corpse through the streets, and then into the Umbrella Academy without anybody seeing.”

Begrudgingly, Klaus nodded his agreement. “Shit.”

“Wait, what if you didn’t do it alone, though?”

Klaus scoffed, accenting the conversation. “You mean invite the people that laughed at me along to this little field trip?”

Ben shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, Luther is strong. Diego can drive. Allison can Rumor people if she needs to. Vanya is a surprisingly good actress. They can help, even if they can be giant dickheads sometimes.”

Thuds echoed around the house as Klaus jumped up and down in frustration and whined. “Shit! I hate it when you’re right.”

Ben silently launched himself off the bed. The absence of a _thud! _made the both of them feel slightly hollow, like something was missing. However, they elected not to bring it up. “Let’s go get them! Or, you go get them and I tag along.”__

____

____

After shooting his brother a sympathetic look, Klaus quietly ran out of his room, ending up in Diego’s room first. He only hesitated for a moment before knocking. “Hey, D. I need your help.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus was convinced—he was going to try and get his siblings to go with him to find Ben’s body. Of course that means long conversations and too many tears.

“Come in, Klaus,” Diego softly called through the door, struggling through his stutter.

He pushed the door open and swiftly crossed the room to Diego. They fell into each other’s arms in a momentary supportive hug. Ben tried to join, but his arms passed through; the only evidence that he was ever there was a slight chill that fell over the shoulders of his two brothers. Klaus quickly took a deep breath and started before Diego could question it. “We need to go find Ben’s body. He’s out there somewhere and I, for one, can’t leave him there. He deserves to come home. And B—I figured that since you could drive, well…”

“Of course I’ll come,” Diego replied quietly. “Hey, I’m sorry for—”

Klaus cut him off with a hand held in the air. “It’s fine. Just give me time to get the others and then we can go.”

“Okay.”

Allison’s room was next. Her door wasn’t closed, so Klaus had an unobstructed view of her sobbing noiselessly into her visibly damp pillow. He sucked on his teeth before rapping gently on the door. “Hey, Allison.”

“Oh, Klaus!” Allison whispered, throwing her arms around him. 

Klaus awkwardly patted her back. “Erm, hey. I was wondering if you could do me a favor.” It took Klaus about a minute to explain, this time without almost slipping up and mentioning that it was Ben’s idea. He could tell that would only make Allison cry harder. Allison was completely on board, sniffles punctuating her agreement.

That left the final two: Vanya and Luther. Klaus decided to tell Vanya first, since he figured asking her would be more similar to how it went when he asked Allison. Vanya’s room was the smallest out of all seven, only contested by Klaus’s, whose happened to be slightly bigger. Hers lacked much decoration though, the violin and music stand being the most interesting aspects of the poorly-lit, grey room. On the plain bed laid a sleeping Vanya, her cheeks wet and eyes swollen from crying.

“Hey,” he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. 

She jolted awake, but relaxed when she saw the owner of the hand was Klaus. “What’s up?” She asked blearily.

Klaus sighed. He didn’t want to keep her in the dark like he did the others. “Ben and I were talking.” She frowned in confusion, but didn’t interrupt. “I wanted to get his body from wherever it was, but he thought I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own. So, I need your help.”

Vanya waited to make sure Klaus was truly finished speaking before replying. “What could I do to help you guys?” She vaguely wondered if Ben was there with them and let her gaze drift around the room.

"Everybody has their talents. Everybody can help in their own way. You don’t have to have some fucked up superpowers to be useful.” Ben replied in Klaus’s silence, forgetting that Vanya couldn’t hear him. As an attempt to cool Ben’s mounting frustrations, Klaus repeated what he said to Vanya, crediting him for it while expressing he felt the same.

After Vanya agreed, there was only Luther left to convince. Klaus figured he’d be the hardest, so he thought over what he would say while he was walking down the long hallway towards his destination. 

“Don’t tell him about me,” Ben sighed. “He’d only get angrier.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Klaus nodded.

Klaus stood before the door that led to Luther’s room with apprehension and more than a hint of second thoughts. However, Ben’s urging motions pushed him past that and he knocked on the wood.

“Come in,” Luther replied gruffly.

Klaus pushed the door open to see Luther shirtless and on the ground, apparently doing some type of exercise that Klaus didn’t even want to know about. “What are you doing there, buddy?” He attempted to lighten the mood, but struggled under Luther’s glare.

“What do you want, Klaus?”

The boy in question shivered in the warm room. “I need your help,” he started hoarsely, then cleared his throat and tried again. “I need your help to go get Ben’s body.” Klaus saw the objection written on Luther’s face and pressed on. “You’re the strongest one out of the whole family and we need a way to… carry him.”

Luther stood up and brushed his hands off onto his sweatpants. He crossed the room towards his nervous brother, who flinched when he got close. “Dad said to leave it, so we are leaving it.”

Klaus couldn’t help but look towards Ben, who now stood behind Luther. “I don’t know what to do,” he whispered to him.

“What?” Luther asked, leaning in. 

“Klaus, be strong,” Ben urged.

He nodded and straightened where he stood. With a considerably less shaky look, he glared Luther right in the eye and puffed out his chest. “Listen, Luther. I don’t care if you believe me when I say Ben is dead. And I certainly don’t care what that prick wants us to do, or how long he wants us to wait to see if what I’m saying is the truth. This is more than that, you know? This is a matter of principle. Dad thought that Ben was dead, and what did he do? Whip out his notebook and start taking notes. Then he told us that we might be able to see if he is dead tomorrow after we finish going over where the major arteries are on a person for the hundredth time. I mean what the fuck?”

Luther furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms. Thankfully, he seemed to be listening.

“So yeah, if you come with us, it would show Dad that he can’t treat us like that any longer. And at the end of the day, doesn’t that matter a lot more than whether or not he wants us to sleep?” Klaus took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head vigorously. After a few moments of silence, he shook his head and turned away. “I’m sorry, Ben. I tried.”

Luther frowned, a look of incredulity splashed across his face. “You can’t see Ben, Klaus. We all know your powers don’t work when you’re on drugs—and you haven’t been sober for years! Stop pretending so that you can get attention!”

“I told you that you shouldn’t have told him,” Ben muttered.

Klaus threw up his hands and sighed. “Well, I’ll go have to tell the others that you won’t be coming.”

A heavy hand on Klaus’s shoulder stopped him from leaving. “When you say ‘the others,’ do you mean Allison too? Is she going with you?”

“Well, yeah, of course. They’re all coming. You were the las—”

“I’ll go. You guys need my strength, right? I’ll help.”

Klaus was taken aback. “Oh. Cool. Then be ready in 5, I guess.” He and Ben left the room towards Klaus’s room, both confused.

“You don’t think…” Ben started.

“I hope the fuck not,” Klaus interrupted with disgust.

In four minutes, the Hargreeves siblings were gathered around the old car in the garage. Some were still crying, or showed signs of recent tears. All of them were worried about Ben, but none of them wanted to say anything, lest they jinx it. Allison, who was standing weirdly close to Luther, was shivering despite the warm night. Diego was the first to get into the car, quickly followed by everybody else.

“So where are we going?” Vanya asked, everybody looking at Klaus expectantly. 

He had to admit, he wasn’t sure he would even get this far. “Yeah, you’re right. Hold on.” Klaus turned to Ben, who was sitting on the divide between Diego and Luther. “Where to, then?”

Ben winced. He knew he would have to tell Klaus sooner or later, but that didn’t make this any easier. “The alleyway by the club.”

Klaus’s mouth fell open in recognition and he shook his head slowly. “No…” he whispered. “No, Ben. Not there. Why?”

This caught the others’ attention. “What? Where is it?” Allison asked nervously.

Klaus shot one last look of confirmation to Ben, who nodded sadly. “The—” he cleared his throat “—the alleyway by the old club.”

Diego gasped. He was the only one who knew about that place, since he had to save Klaus a few times in that area. “No. No, Klaus. Why is he there?”

“I don’t know,” he stuttered, then repeated it again and again under his breath.

“Listen, we can deal with the ‘why’s and the ‘how’s later. Right now, we need to just go get Ben.” Vanya whispered, somehow being one of the more level-headed siblings.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Diego put the keys in the ignition, shifted into gear, and began to drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate all comments, Kudos, and the like! Keep an eye out for Chapter 3 tomorrow and know that you're welcome to stop by [my Tumblr](https://dyll-pickless.tumblr.com/) and drop an ask <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus, Ben, and the others hunt for Ben’s body and Klaus learns about how Ben died.

It was a silent drive, one that seemed to stretch on for all of eternity. A few of Klaus’s siblings began to nod off onto the shoulders of others, none of whom complained. They were jealous of those who slept, for those who did were able to escape the nagging worry that grew in their minds. Diego was one of those who was wide awake, though. His mind was racing with thoughts and possibilities. Whenever he got to one that made him feel especially mad or helpless or guilty, he subconsciously pressed harder on the gas. The green-faced Klaus would place a soft hand on his brother’s shoulder to remind him to ease up.

After the very long drive, the car slowly rolled up to the thumping club. Those who were awake shook those who were asleep until they were conscious. “We’re here,” Diego said.

The atmosphere was thick and heavy on the shoulders of the siblings. Those who were secretly hoping for it to thin when they exited the small car were greatly disappointed. The air was hot and humid, mosquitoes buzzed around street-lights and into the faces of the too young teenagers. However, they didn’t notice. They looked around in the darkness.

The oppressive silence was broken when the door to the club burst open and hit the wall behind it like a gunshot. Out poured pulsing music and drunken revelers howling with laughter. They leaned their weight on each other, swaying as they sang a broken tune. One man looked at the group of pale-faced children and snorted. “Somebody get these kids a drink!” he exclaimed, followed by the boisterous laughter of his entourage.

“Let’s go,” Luther glared at the onlookers. He spread his arms as if to herd them away from the verbal assaults thrown their way.

Klaus draped his arm over Luther’s in protest. “No, wait. Ben says it’s this way.”

After exchanging a look with the others, Luther conceded and allowed Klaus to pass. He dreamily stopped forward, his hand still drifting in the air like the arm never moved. His siblings, save for Ben, were left wondering if he slipped any drugs on the car ride there. Ben knew he didn’t—Klaus was scared he would lose touch with his brother if he took any more.

“Here,” Ben motioned meekly.

When Klaus stopped, the others skidded to a halt. Vanya’s stomach dropped and she had to fight to keep her dinner down. “He’s here, isn’t he?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Klaus responded hoarsely. His throat was horribly dry from fear.

“Found him,” Diego spoke slowly to work through his stutter.

The others quickly rushed to where he stood, Klaus sticking to the back of the crowd. They stood there, staring at their dead brother in shock. The only one that wasn’t looking, Klaus, was also the only one that wasn’t silent. He stood there, swaying and whimpering and clenching his eyes shut. “Why?” He blearily looked up at Ben.

Ben looked down at the pavement, kicking his combat boots at rocks that never moved. “When you did drugs, you always seemed more carefree,” he started after a few moments of quiet. “You seemed to float around, you smiled and made jokes, nothing ever got to you. Everything had been so hard for me, especially with The Thing. I hated being The Horror. Dad made me do things I didn’t want to do, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t resist Dad. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about all the stuff I’ve done. I hate it. I hate what I did. I mean, I’m a murderer!” Ben took a moment to calm himself down before continuing. “I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be carefree and happy and I wanted to forget everything I had done.”

Klaus hid his face in his hands, holding back the tears that threatened to spill over. “Oh, Ben.”

Ben kept talking, realizing that if he stopped he would never start ever again. “I started sneaking drugs from your room; I wasn’t sure what you would do if I came to you and asked. Eventually you started to get suspicious, so I decided to go out and buy my own. I had to steal some money in order to buy it, of course, but I got pretty good at it.”

“What was different this time?” Klaus asked shakily.

Ben shrugged. “I guess it was a laced batch, or something.”

At that point, the others had noticed Klaus’s conversation. “Ask Ben who gave him the drugs.” Diego commanded. He knew enough to know that his brother died of an overdose.

Klaus looked pointedly at Ben, who shifted his weight. “I don’t know. I blacked out pretty quickly.” Klaus looked at Diego and shook his head. Luther growled under his breath in response.

“So, how are we going to get Ben home?” Vanya piped up from her position by Ben’s body.

Luther soberly walked towards Ben, pushing past Vanya on the way. She stumbled towards Allison, who quickly enveloped her in a hug. Luther squatted and hoisted Ben’s limp body onto his shoulder. “Listen,” he turned around, commanding, “I’m going to carry Ben back to the car. We need to just act like Ben’s had a few too many.”

“If anything goes wrong, Allison’s got us, right?” Diego looked over to his pale and shaking sibling. His hard expression momentarily cracked and the ghost of a stutter sat on his lips.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” She wrung her hands, looking like she wanted to help, but she didn’t know how.

The Hargreeves siblings formed a protective, yet loose shield around Luther and Ben. They bravely stepped out of the dark, wet alleyway and into the neon-lit street. Vanya was surprisingly stoic, unlike Allison, who couldn’t stop shaking. Klaus’s hand itched for the weight of Ben’s, but just fluttered at the hem of his skirt. The group did get a few odd glances from passers-by, but they were quickly alleviated by false lighthearted comments about Ben having a few too many. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to see an unconscious person, so nobody looked too closely.

The drive home was more tense and quiet than the drive up. Despite the others’ protests, Ben ended up in Klaus’s lap. It was a bit awkward, given how small Klaus was, but he insisted. So there lay Ben, curled up in his brother’s lap, who was stroking his hair and whispering in his ear. The ghost form of Ben just quietly sat there, not sure if him doing anything would make the situation any better.

Once they reached their home, they decided the only way to get Ben into the academy was to take him through the front, since it would be nearly impossible to get him through the window and nobody had a key to the side doors. Ben’s ghost stood at the side a they all carried him into the foyer, through the hallways, and finally into the kitchen. They set him on the table on which they ate breakfast, the best time of the day because they could talk and be themselves.

Diego went to go find their mom and Pogo while Allison decided she should “convince” Reginald that he allowed the siblings to go find Ben. That left Luther, Vanya, and Klaus alone with Ben’s body. None of them tried to take comfort in another, though. They kept to themselves.

As Klaus stared out the window from his seat at the table, still absentmindedly stroking Ben’s hair, he found himself lost deep in thought. _Was Ben’s death on his hands?_ Depressingly, he arrived to his conclusion: _How else would Ben have gotten in that alley? He gave Ben the idea to start doing drugs. It’s his fault._ Klaus looked down at his hands. They had been covered in blood before, for certain. He and his siblings killed people regularly. But this was different. This time, while the blood wasn’t visible, it was still there, and it was Ben’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave a comment, Kudos, or drop an ask to [my Tumblr](https://dyll-pickless.tumblr.com/)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus copes with the news of Ben’s death the only way he knows how.

It had been three days, four hours, and thirteen minutes since Ben showed up pale and bleeding on the foot of Klaus’s bed. Klaus rested his head on his knees, ignoring how the concrete of the sidewalk dug into his bare feet. After taking another long drag of his joint, he blew a puff of smoke into the sky. In one fluid motion, he was suddenly laying on the curb, staring straight up at the stars that dotted the night sky.

It had been one hell of a day. Reginald teamed up with the mayor to set up a lavish funeral for Ben. It was jam-packed with reporters, local celebrities, and politicians. That being said, there wasn’t much of a source of emotional support for the siblings, since all the guests wanted to do was get an interview or steal a picture of the relatively famous children. Of course, they did have each other, but they felt a deep wedge being driven between them, and the hammer was Ben’s death. There was an exception to that, though. Klaus found himself not rejecting Vanya’s attempts for physical contact. They held hands throughout the service, something they had never done before.

Said funeral service was too long and drawn out: even though he was high, Klaus could have sworn it lasted at least 12 years. It was full of some watery speeches, like that given by Pogo, and many, many speeches that only pretended to be emotional, like the ones given by Reginald, the mayor, and a celebrity Klaus didn’t know the name of.

Klaus’s train of thought was interrupted by somebody clearing their throat. He looked up, and there stood a very somber-looking Diego. “Hey, D.” Klaus didn’t even try to make his voice sound cheery.

“Hi, Klaus. How are you holding up?” Diego laid down next to Klaus and put his arms behind his head.

Klaus made an indifferent noise in response and took another long drag on his blunt.

“I see,” Diego murmured, seeming to search for something in the stars.

Ben looked between the two and sighed. “You two are depressing. Talk to each other, damn it!”

Klaus scoffed and turned around to glare at Ben. “Save it, asshole.” It stung to talk to his brother like that, and he immediately tried to make amends after by blowing a kiss in his direction.

Diego, confused, looked between Klaus and the air he seemed to be having a conversation with. “How high are you?” he chuckled.

“It’s not—Whatever. You guys don’t understand.” Klaus stood, brushed off his pants, and began to walk away, despite the protests coming from his two brothers.

Klaus had been walking in no particular direction for the better part of an hour. Funnily enough, he found himself near the very alleyway in which Ben died. He didn’t have the energy to think about that though, so instead he thanked whatever being may have power over his life for the crumpled bills in his pockets. He found a dealer that he knew well and quickly exchanged the money for some pills he’d never tried before.

“Klaus,” Ben started, his tone laced with warning.

“I’m not in the mood, Ben.” Klaus snapped, walking through Ben’s ghost.

Klaus laid on a park bench, staring at the lush green leaves as they fluttered in the nighttime breeze. The joint he had a few hours before combined with the pills he recently bought and alcohol from a flask he kept hidden in his jacket mixed to make a wonderful, swirling concoction that made his mind float and swim in ways it never had before. Sure, he’d been high many times, but he never felt this delightfully delirious. Klaus’s hands floated above him like feathers in the air and all of the weight of the past three days was gradually lifted off his shoulders. The only ghost that he could see was Ben, who just looked disappointed. However, Klaus just couldn’t muster up the effort to care.

“Klaus!” Ben’s voice emerged from a haze of muffled noises, sounding strained like he was repeating himself for the umpteenth time. But that couldn’t be right—Klaus didn’t hear Ben say anything before then.

He made a grunt of vague acknowledgement and rolled onto his side to look at Ben with more ease. His eyes squinted in the sunlight—but how? It was the middle of the night! Klaus didn’t spend too long on this train of thought because, once again, he found himself feeling overwhelmingly apathetic.

“You have to go home, Klaus. You’ve been gone for days! Our family is probably worried sick!” Ben chided his brother, giving in to the temptation to cross his arms like a disappointed parent.

“Why the hell would I want to do that?” Klaus struggled to get each word past his heavy lips.

“Like I said, our family cares about you. Besides, this isn’t a healthy way to cope with my death. Trust me, I should know. You need to go home.” Ben used the last few days to finally come to terms with the fact that he was indeed dead. Or, he at least started the process.

“Fine, fine. As long as it gets you to get off my back.” Klaus waved his hand dismissively, stumbling around as he stood from the park bench.

Klaus somehow managed to catch a taxi, which he paid for with the last of his money. Ben was grateful the he did so, since they both knew he wouldn’t be able to walk home that far in that state. Klaus made his way into the Academy, lightly humming a Doors song.

Thundering footsteps juxtaposed Klaus’s silent ones as Luther came down the hallway towards him. “Where the hell have you been? How dare you pull something like this when we just lost one sibling? For all we knew, you could’ve been dead too!”

Swaying where he stood, Klaus giggled at Ben. “I guess you were right, Benny.”

Luther’s contorted expression was interrupted by Reginald coming down the hallway. “Number Four!” He barked. “Your behavior has been unacceptable! Missing mandatory lessons and training experiences! Not to mention your absence from meals and missions! I am greatly disappointed in you Number Four. I do believe that if this is how you will react to the death of somebody you know, we will have to do further work in the Mausoleum.”

In a near knee-jerk reaction, Klaus recoiled from Reginald’s presence. Somehow, he quickly sobered up and was suddenly very aware of what was happening around him. “You know what?” He chuckled through gritted teeth. “I’d like to see you try, _Dad_.”

Reginald stuttered, completely taken aback by Klaus’s sudden rebellious words. “Number Four,” he started, scandalized.

Klaus held up his hand with GOODBYE scrawled onto it. “No, save it. I’m done with your fake emotions, your—the bullshit you fed to us since the day you bribed our parents and stole us. You treat everybody like shit. We’re all so _fucked in the head_ because of you and you don’t even care! You’re a horrible person and an even worse father.

“And another thing! This whole ‘Umbrella Academy’ thing is just stupid! I’m constantly haunted by my abilities and nobody fucking cares!” By that point, a whole crowd was gathered in the front hall. Klaus swayed under their gaze. “Right now, in this very room, there are at least thirty ghosts screaming my name, begging me for help. They try to grab at me, but they just pass through and make me constantly freezing cold! The only relief I get around here is the so-called ‘poison’ I put into my body because it’s the only way I won’t go absolutely insane! And nobody cares! I get action figures and posters made of me, when all I need is some goddamn normalcy.”

Ben sighed and Reginald muttered. “Thirty?” Vanya whispered.

“He’s cracked,” Luther rolled his eyes.

“Kids, I’m leaving. Fuck all of you—nobody living but Vanya and Diego was at least decent to me. Come to think of it, they still think I’m insane!” Klaus giggled despite himself and spun to look his audience in the eyes. “You all think I’m insane,” he repeated, suddenly feeling deflated. “Nobody believes me about Ben. Well joke’s on you, he’s right here!” A wild gesture towards the invisible Ben standing beside him did not help his case.

“Christ, I’m done listening to this utter bs.” Luther shook his head and left, Allison reluctantly following him soon after. One by one, the Academy trickled out of the main entrance, leaving Klaus to collapse in the middle of the cold floor. Sobs wracked his thin frame as they echoed down the empty halls.

  


Vanya woke the next morning to the energy of the house shifted. She could feel it in the draft that moved her hair along her pillow. She could feel it in the chill of the ground against her bare feet. She could see it in the bags under Diego’s eyes—he could feel it too.

Upon seeing his smaller sister, Diego found himself itching to hug her. He swayed forward, about to comfort her and himself, but he stopped. _Leaders don’t let emotion get the best of them, Number Two._ Instead, Diego scratched his arm and pushed past Vanya.

She sighed, and pressed on. Given the events of the previous night, she could infer what the change in energy was due to, but she didn’t want to accept it. So she continued to walk down the hall—left foot, right foot—until she stopped at the door between Klaus’s room and the rest of the room. White paint flaked off the wood when she touched it, but she ignored it. Without bothering to knock, Vanya pushed the door open.

Empty. No Klaus.

Some articles of clothing were missing. Some trinkets were broken open. All pieces of loose change were gone.

Suddenly, the floor slammed into Vanya’s knees. She was on the ground, clutching at anything of his that she could reach. _No. No. No. No!_ How could he leave? Klaus, her only living sibling that treated her like a human being, was gone. He left her. Abandoned. And Vanya screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus concludes the series! Thank you for reading, leaving Kudos, and commenting. Like what you read and want more? Feel free to send a request to the askbox on [my Tumblr](https://dyll-pickless.tumblr.com/)!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a Kudos and a comment if you liked it! I'll post a new chapter each day, so keep an eye out. You can also check out [my Tumblr](https://dyll-pickless.tumblr.com/) if you ever want to drop an ask :)


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